Today and tonight simply have been spectacular.

Things God’s blessed me with:
• life
• joy
• amazing friendships
• hope
• wisdom (Bible, Holy Spirit, some manly influences in my life [Matt W., Phil, Chase, Ray, Dennis -- you guys rock], and MANY other people)
• peace
• a future

Tonight was the Navigator’s Halloween Par-tay. Prior to that was a one-hour Nav Nite with six different workshops, 20 minutes each, pick 3.

I picked Meditation, Sabbath, and Spiritual Warfare. A couple of Navigator staff from Africa lead the Meditation and Spiritual Warfare workshops. Both of these were interesting.

The Meditation workshop used an analogy about scripture I hadn’t thought about before: taking the scripture, reading it, defining words, inquiring, and looking at the content and the emphasis are part of finding a rough jewel and polishing it into a dazzling gem which reflects light and beauty.

Jenny lead the Sabbath workshop. She brought up a lot of good verses on finding rest in God, having a Sabbath day, and that it’s a gift. It’s something she’s been learning about lately and she did a good job of conveying it.

The Spiritual Warfare talk held my interest. The presence of demonic activity and demonic influences isn’t something given much credit in America, or is usually ignored. I found it interesting that some of what people dismiss as pscyhological problems could be a spiritual struggle. Nelson’s also going to email information and scripture about it to me.

After all of that, the Nav Halloween Par-Tay commenced. I got up there, paid, went in, and Jenny asked if I’d go get something to eat with her since she hadn’t eaten dinner. “Sure.” Jenny, a girl from Kauffman, and I went over to Amigos, got some food, and had good conversation.

Then back to the Par-Tay. Dancing, etc. Only one country-swing dance while I was there, but it was enjoyable. Lots of techno. Different. Jenny and Jake shared their testimonies and talked about how knowing God has changed their lives. They both did a good job.

Eventually I left and came home. Now I’m tired. I’ve had a good conversation with Mandy (my cousin) on IM(Instant Messenger) and that’s been nice.

I’ll be going to bed soon. G’night.

Costumes of Note:
• Jake - Scary Uncle Jake
• Jenny - hispanic dancer
• Tracy - woman in a Poodle skirt (I never realized a poodle image was actually supposed to be on the skirt.)
• Phil - 80s Army Man w/ short shorts
• Hatfield - William Wallace
• me - McDonalds employee or after-work McDonalds employee

Categories: Life, Religious
Tags: Jake, Jenny, McDonalds, Navigators, Phil, Tracy

When I got off work tonight, I was waiting for my manager to open the door and let me out (2AM… door is locked). I looked at the handle for a mop bucket and thought of a girl.

No, no, I know what you’re thinking. “This poor shmuck is reminded about a girl… probably a certain girl… no matter what’s going on.”

That’s not it at all! You are mistaken!

My newest thought on love, truuuue love: It starts with a spark. The spark ignites a flame which lights a twig, the fire absorbs a bush, and then the fire spreads and all of a sudden the whole forest is on fire and you’re getting married!

starts waiting for the spark

I spent last night in Omaha con mis amigos! My friends rock. I stopped by Jenny’s house and we talked for a while until a couple of her other friends got there. We ended up going to see “League of Extraordinary Gentleman”. (10 Second Review: An action movie, with the plot being an excuse for the action. This didn’t diminism the fun.)

My car’s soul and aspects of its personality died a sad, sad death today. This is partly due to a comment made by Travis (one of Jenny’s friends) last night related to offensive bumper stickers. Not offensive in the sense that the content is vulgar, but could offend people who don’t have the same beliefs. Anyway, one of my bumper stickers fell under that category. Another of the stickers was beginning to peel off anyway (and was taken out of context). Another one I didn’t believe any more (”Love is random; fear is inevitable.” –> if my car were a Hummer or some other monstrous car, the “fear” aspect might have actually applied somehow.) And the other one… eh. The rest were gone, this one might as well follow.

Now my car is sad. Aside from its personality change, it’s also badly in need of new rotors. A digital homie of mine told me driving the ~100 mile round trip to Omaha with the car shaking above 70mph and brakes clunking when stopping from above 50mph = bad idea. Whoops. Time to find those parts.

The new UNL Navigator’s web page is up and running. Check it out. Let me know if you find problems.

Oh, and God is awesome.

Categories: Life, Movies
Tags: Jenny, Navigators, omaha

Happy Birthday, Cora!

Yesterday (the day before her birthday) Cora threw a party in A-Town. About 15 people or so showed up for it. BBQ, hay ride, campfire, and canoes. The atmosphere totally rocked. The country does that to me those ocassional times I get to experience it. Lightning bugs are beautiful. Seeing hundreds or thousands of them hovering over a field at dusk amazes me.

A lot of my friends came and I was able to talk to them. It’s good getting to spend time together. This summer, it has been awesome being around and getting to see my closest friends at least once every week or two. Last night probably ranks among the highlights of my summer. I may not know how to give Jenny high-fives, and I learned once more of Linsey’s “wrath,” Matt didn’t eat the five burgers to earn his kiss, but that’s all part of the fun.

Categories: Friends, Life
Tags: 4L, birthday, Cora, Jenny

My names in Elvish:
OR

Via quenya lapseparma: -

It seems that almost everyone who interested in Tolkien and particularly in his invented languages played with an idea to have his/her own name in an Elvish language. Some use names taken from Tolkien’s books, while the others try to coin their own Elvish nickname. It seems to be a common habit. Sometimes people create their own poetic Elvish name and sometimes they try to translate the meaning of their real name into Elvish.

Yes, I too am now interested in knowing what my name is in Quenya, the language of the high elves. I was able to find my name on the elvish names site. Now, my name is Calvin, and it has an unfortunate meaning associated with it - “bald.”

CALVIN (m.) - from Norman French ‘bald’; perhaps Heldacarite (= “bare-headed”, helda “bare”, cár “head” + ite, cf. maite “handed” from má “hand”) or Úfindo (”without hairs”)

In search of a more meaningful name and perhaps better associated with me, I looked around the site for other names. Here’s a few I found.

OBADIAH (m.) - Heb. ’servant of God’; Eru “God”; -ndur “servant of”, thus Erundur

MARA (f.) - Heb. ‘bitter’; sára “bitter”, thus Sára itself (to keep similarity) or Sáre with a fem. ending

If you’re interested what your own name is, just head to the site. Below is a list of the names of some of my homies:
• BENJAMIN (m.) - Heb. ’son of the right hand’ and also ’son of the south’; unfortunately Quenya word for “south” hyarmen is related to hyarya “left”, while Hebrew word for “right hand” is related to “south”, but Hyarion (-ion “son”) would be good
• CHASE (m.) - ‘chase, hunt’; raime “hunt, hunting”, thus Raimo or Raimon
• CRYSTAL (f.) - ‘crystal’; silima “crystal substance” (the Silmarils were made of it), thus Silime; or more literally: derived from Greek ‘ice’; helce “ice”, thus Helce itself
• JENNIFER, JENNY (f.) - Celtic ‘white/fair + soft/smooth’; losse “white”; pasta “smooth”, thus Lossepaste; or Celtic ‘white + wave’, so Lossefalme (falma “wave”)
• MATTHEW (m.) - Heb. ‘gift of God’; Eru “God”; anna “gift”, thus Eruanno or Erunno
• MELISSA (f.) - Greek ‘a bee’; nion, nier “honey-bee”, thus Nione or Niere
• RACHEL (f.) - Heb. ‘ewe’; *máme “she-sheep” (máma “sheep”, probably a general word), thus Máme itself
• TRACY (f.) - French ‘road, path’; tie “road, path”, so Tie as such
• TYLER (m.) - Old Eng. ’tiler of roofs’; Telutan (”roof-maker”: stem telu- “roof in”, stem tan “make, fashion”)

Outside Resources
Behind the Name - A site for regular old name info
Amanye Tenceli - the writing systems on Aman (Tengwar) info
Tengwar Transcriber
Quenya Course - for the hardcore linguists

Categories: Good Times
Tags: elvish, Jenny, Quenya, Rachel, Tolkien, Tracy, Tyler

Yesterday (Saturday) we celebrated Jenny’s birthday up in Omaha. We all had dinner and then went to her house for homemade ice cream (yum), played Catch Phrase, and watched “Emperor’s New Groove.” It was fun.

Nkem made us dinner tonight. Emmy Lou and her brother Eric were here as well. Good old stir fry. Mmm. Then we watched Dumb & Dumber. It was the first time I’d seen the whole movie straight through. It’s got some good one-liners and some of the acting is pretty funny. I’ve never quite been attracted to the “they’re complete morons, so this is really funny” type of story, but this one definitely had some good elements.

And with that, I leave you.

“I just thought he was really quiet.”

Categories: Friends, Life, Movies
Tags: Jenny, omaha